


Deal

by Redzik



Series: What if [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Lex Luthor is evil but still a decent human being, Not Beta Read, Traumatized Dick Grayson, turned out to be JayDick sorry not sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22320511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redzik/pseuds/Redzik
Summary: Lex Luthor and Nightwing must work together.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Series: What if [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1158611
Comments: 28
Kudos: 438





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I marathoned the recent Arrowverse crossover and they had Lex Luthor there. And I remembered that at some point he was in the Justice League (?). And then I wondered what would happen if Dick was back from Spyral and Luthor would be in the League and they had to work together. And I wrote this. And it sounded a lot better in my mind at 3 am in the morning.

“So, to what do I owe the dubious pleasure of you contacting me?” voiced the man sprawled on the plush sofa once Luthor entered his penthouse.

Luthor’s eyes narrowed slightly with annoyance, but he let the matter of breaking into his house go. He wasn’t really expecting anything else from the man after all.

Instead, he directed his steps to the bar and poured two shots then placed them on the table and sat across his uninvited guest.

“I want to hire you.”

“So you said in your message,” the man allowed. “What a man like you would want a man like me for?”

“Protection.”

“Don’t you have an army of bodyguards at your beck and call?” the man snorted.

“Not for me,” Luthor said. “For Nightwing.”

“What?”

That got the man abandoning his relaxed slouch and sitting straight, visibly completely focused on the task at hand. Not that he wasn’t before, but Luthor liked when his business partners acted and looked professional.

Lex smirked and took a sip of the whiskey.

“It’s nothing official yet, I got just a draft for the schedule, but it’s almost certain that in the next mission I get from Justice League tomorrow me and Nightwing will be teamed up. As you know, I don’t tolerate failures. I want you to do everything you can to make sure Nightwing has his head in the game and feels…say... secure enough to not botch the entire operation.”

“And why would that be?” the man tilted his head. “Nightwing wouldn’t let anything interfere with the mission, just like the Bat taught his pretty little soldier.”

“That’s not up to me to tell you,” Luthor swirled his glass. “But he proved to let his emotions get the better of him in the past and I’d rather not risk that now.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Lex sighed and put his glass down, picking the tablet instead. He typed something for a few seconds and slid it across the table to the man. Then he took the glass and went to refill it.

The tablet was picked up carefully, as if it was set to explode and the man looked at the pulled up video.

It took a good ten minutes before the man laid the tablet down.

“Where did you get this?”

“I like to know everything I can about my enemies and associates,” Lex shrugged. “But that’s not important right now. I want you to protect Nightwing during the mission with me. It shouldn’t take more than a week in the worst case. I pay one million. Upfront.”

“The catch?” the man demanded.

“I stay alive,” Luthor smirked like a shark. “Besides that? Nothing. I just really want this mission to go smoothly.” He frowned, “Now that I think about it, it would be better if you took your entire team with you. I wanted just you, but that would just distract Nightwing further.”

“What’s the mission you’re supposed to get on?”

Luthor shrugged.

“Some information gathering. I’ll give you details as soon as I get them,” he took a sip. “So. Do we have a deal?”

The man looked at the tablet for long moment.

“We have a deal.”

* * *

“I’m sorry, what?!” Nightwing asked in disbelief as Batman handed out the assignments.

Everyone fell silent, looking at him curiously or in trepidation. One just didn’t interrupt Batman while he was explaining the case. It made him more unbearable later.

Batman scowled.

“You’ll be working with Lex Luthor on this case,” the Bat repeated.

“But-” Nightwing looked at the bald man on the other side of the table he made a point to avoid entirely. Said man was engrossed in the file, not paying attention to the sudden shift in mood. “You can’t expe-”

“This is your mission,” Batman growled and a few members of the Justice League cringed and shoot Nightwing pitying looks. “End of discussion.”

Nightwing clenched his hands on the folder and remained silent for the rest of the meeting. Once it finished, he followed Batman to the tubes.

“Bruce,” he said urgently, swallowing the lump in his throat. “You can’t seriously expect me to work with Luthor on this.”

“There’s no other way,” Batman rumbled. “Luthor has resources and you have a way in to use them.”

They stopped at the controls.

“I realize that...” Batman searched for words. “this may be difficult for you...”

“That’s an understatement of the century,” Nightwing snorted.

“So I asked your old friend to accompany you on this mission.”

“Oh?” Nightwing raised an eyebrow. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all, if he had some distraction from the fact he was forced to work with his killer.

Batman smugly pressed a few buttons and a new person materialized next to them on the deck.

Nightwing’s jaw dropped in shock and all his thoughts screeched to a halt and his entire body went numb when he saw who it was.

Skimpy outfit, long dark hair, red lips that parted on a smirk.

“Hello, lover boy.”

* * *

The trip in the elevator seemed endless. Dick used that time to drag himself back online to face the task waiting ahead of him. He didn’t remember what Bruce said once the woman appeared, it apparently didn’t require for him to answer, because the Bat dumped him and her before Luthor’s building a few minutes later.

After another few minutes of security check, they were escorted to the elevator and told to go up. At least Dick thought so. He still was reeling from the clusterfuck this mission turned into. And it didn’t even begin yet.

Thankfully Catalina didn’t say or try anything. She just leaned against the wall and hummed in boredom.

Eventually the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened with a ding.

Dick immediately felt adrenaline filling his body.

Red Hood was standing before him, talking with Luthor. Starfire and Arsenal were on either side of him.

Dick glanced around in the split second, looking for the grunts to take out and keep his Little Wing and friends safe. But no. There was nobody else besides them, and the Outlaws were fully armed and didn’t seem like they were there against their will. What was Luthor planning?

At the back of his head Dick registered Luthor glancing at him and saw his eyes widen a fraction and maybe even his jaw dropped a little, but Dick was more concerned with his brother.

“Red Hood?” he asked, hurriedly walking to his side. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey, ‘Wing,” Red Hood replied, turning.

He was calm and relaxed, so Dick knew they weren’t in the immediate danger.

“You wouldn’t believe-” Red Hood trailed off, stiffening suddenly.

In a quick move, he took a step toward Dick, pulling him forward and behind his back. In the next second he had the pistol trained on the woman exiting the elevator.

Kory and Roy fell into battle stance at their back.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” Red Hood snarled.

Dick laughed hysterically. His head was spinning, but he felt somewhat safe squished between the three Outlaws.

“Batman send her to be my back up.”

“What. The. Fuck.” Red Hood repeated.

“Jesus Christ,” Luthor muttered under his nose. He so didn’t sign up for this. Now he wasn’t dealing with just a potentially homicidal Nightwing, but also with pissed off Red Hood ready to commit murder right this second. “Red Hood, I’m changing the deal.”

The trio around Dick moved so Red Hood could train his second gun on Luthor without taking aim off from Catalina.

“Why I’m not surprised?” the Outlaw growled.

“I’ll pay you ten million dollars if you take Nightwing on a vacation and I won’t see neither hide nor hair of the two of you for at least three months. Right now.”

“What?!” Dick blinked. He couldn’t hear that right.

“Deal!” Red Hood put his guns away and turned to Nightwing.

“WHAT?” Dick protested. “No! Hood, what are you- Put me down!”

“Pleasure doing business with you, Luthor,” Red Hood called over Dick’s objections as he carried him out, Arsenal and Starfire following.

Lex poured himself an entire glass of scotch and drained it in one go.

“Damn Bats,” he sighed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman realizes Nightwing's missing and Luthor has a go at Batman ;)

Batman watched from the shadows as Lex Luthor entered the apartment and dismissed his security detail.

The man then sighed deeply and went for the bar, where he poured himself a generous amount of whiskey.

“What can I do for you?” Lex asked without even turning around.

Batman narrowed his eyes for a moment, but ultimately decided continuing to play a possum was a waste of precious time.

“Nightwing,” he growled.

Luthor looked at him with a raised eyebrow while sipping the alcohol.

“Where is he?” Batman demanded.

Second eyebrow joined the first.

“How should I know?” Luthor shrugged.

Batman clenched his teeth and fists.

When Nightwing didn’t show up for mission debrief, he wasn’t surprised. He didn’t even bat an eye when Luthor handed him Nightwing’s report, which simply stated “What he said”. (Luthor provided his own report right and above Bat standards, so Bruce allowed the pettiness. For now.) Bruce had figured Dick went to sulk off his hurt feelings, so he left the boy alone to calm down and see reason. When Dick would have been ready, he would bounce back into Bruce’s life like he never left and everything would be alright between them.

But.

After a month Damian came to him expressing his concern about the lack of communication from his eldest brother. A quick check confirmed Tim, Alfred, Barbara and the rest of the Bats haven’t hear from him either. Further inquiry proved that other heroes didn’t have any contact with Nightwing since the mission too.

So Batman investigated.

There were no sightings of Nightwing or Dick Grayson. Dick’s apartment in Blüdhaven wasn’t lived in for some time. As was his flat in Gotham and his safehouses and other known locations. Tracking him proved to be futile. Nightwing disappeared and the last place anybody saw him was when he went into Luthor’s building with Tarantula.

Bruce tried to find the woman, but he kept running into dead ends. Which left him with the one and obvious lead: Lex Luthor.

The man definitely knew something.

“He was last seen a month ago entering your building,” Batman said gravely.

“When we met for the mission?” Luthor checked. “He left alive and well.” He smirked, “Did you lost one of your birds?”

“Where. Is. He.” Batman ground out through angrily clenched teeth.

Luthor full on grinned and sprawled across the sofa.

“Well, well, well, I definitely got my money’s worth.”

“What did you do?”

Luthor swirled the liquid in his glass, letting Batman stew in his anger and worry a little more.

“I hired Red Hood to take care of Nightwing,” he finally said.

Batman was taken aback. Luthor just openly admitted to hiring Red Hood for a hit on Nightwing. And while Bruce didn’t want to believe Red Hood would kill Nightwing, he couldn’t ignore that possibility.

“I heard he was a professional and he always delivered what he was paid for. And I’m not disappointed to find out that’s the truth. Definitely worth the money I paid him,” Luthor continued, but Batman barely heard him as his thoughts raced.

Bruce’s and others relationship with Jason was shaky at best. Jason was insane and angry all the time. The Pit’s influence only added to his madness and lust for blood. The young anti-hero traveled around the world with his team, but when he ended up in Gotham from time to time it was always more of a chance he would rather kill Bats rather than help them.

But as Luthor pointed out, Jason was a professional and Luthor wouldn’t admit to hiring him to kill Nightwing out in the open. And now that he thought about it, Red Hood was suspiciously quiet for the past month too. Was he keeping Dick somewhere, torturing him for information Luthor wanted? This seemed likely. More so than Hood killing Dick.

Bruce shuddered. Inwardly.

“Red Hood is dangerous and unstable-” Batman started.

“Oh, please,” Luthor interrupted, rolling his eyes. He took this into consideration when he decided to hire Red Hood, and while he was sure he didn’t need to, he ensured Hood’s loyalty to Nightwing by showing him a video where angry Nightwing beat Joker to death. “One might think you’re not grateful that I ensured your son’s safety.”

“Safety?!” Batman roared.

Luthor threw him an unimpressed look.

“I hired the man Nightwing trusts and loves to protect him. While you sent him to work with his killer. And his rapist. I still can’t figure out what you were thinking with that one, by the way.”

Batman froze.

“Oh well,” Luthor drained the whiskey and got up, stretching. “It has been a long day and I start early tomorrow, so I’m going to sleep. See yourself out.”


	3. Chapter 3

Hal Jordan hummed under his breath as he walked through the empty corridors of the Watchtower. He got a few days of leave from the Green Lantern Corps to visit Earth and he intended to just go to his flat and sleep through most of his free time after he checked with the League. Hopefully nothing would threaten his home planet during his stay.

But of course not, he sighed inwardly as he stepped into a meeting room, God forbid any of them ever got a day off.

His friends were gathered around the table. Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Arrow and Flash turned to him with grim faces. The impending doom radiated off of them in waves, especially from Batman.

“What is it this time?” he asked, taking a mouthful of chips.

“It’s good to see you, Hal,” Wonder Woman smiled sightly before sobering right up. “But unfortunately we have a dire situation.”

“What happened?” he asked, walking closer and sprawling on one of the chairs with his feet on the table, much to Batman’s irritation. Hal hid a smirk.

“Nightwing, Red Hood, Arsenal and Starfire went missing two months ago,” Superman began.

“Nightwing was kidnapped by the Outlaws,” Batman cut him off harshly. “We think they wanted information he possessed.”

“You don’t know that!” Green Arrow argued.

“Oh,” Hal paused, looking at Batman oddly. “I see. And what information Nightwing has that Outlaws couldn’t get themselves?”

“They’re working for Luthor, apparently,” Flash explained. “And Bruce thinks he hired them to extract some info from Nightwing. And to ‘take care of him’ as Bat quoted.”

Green Arrow glowered at Batman.

“Ah,” Hal nodded in understanding. He thought for a moment and straightened in his seat. “Funny story. You see, when I was on my way to Earth-”

“This is not the time for one of your stories, Hal,” Wonder Woman cut him off.

“No, no,” Hal shook his head. “You should listen. So as I was saying,” Hal ignored the exasperated looks and shrugging the League members exchanged between themselves and continued, “when I was on my way to Earth I passed near Trapus V and I decided to visit. You know this planet is known for being a paradise for some races, Humans included, so how could I pass the opportunity? Friendly natives, beautiful landscape, long beaches, sun all day, away from the city and no neighbors for a mile, you get what I mean? A dream come true.”

“Is there a point to this?” Batman growled.

The other League members sat, resigned to the tale before they could get back to work.

“Shh, I’m talking,” Green Lantern waved the Bat off, keeping himself from laughing at them. “Of course I did my duty and checked with law enforcement if they needed my help. I was on my way out, to continue to Earth when the call came. A disturbance in a location that had gathered an extensive list of complaints. You know, weird noises, explosions, shots fired, screaming. All the works. The police wasn’t very keen to go there, so I offered instead. Let me tell you, they were so relieved I started to worry what I got myself into. They gave me a locator and send me off with their blessing. Let me tell you, when I got to the house, there was nothing for a mile in either direction, so whoever was living in there had to work really hard to get such a list of noise complaints. I landed, the house was big and nice, and knocked.”

Hal grinned at the bored looks his friends sported.

“Roy opened the door.”

The reaction was immediate. Everyone instantly straightened, suddenly hanging onto every word Hal said.

“I don’t know who was more surprised, I or him.”

“Was he alright?” Oliver asked.

“Yes,” Hal nodded. “He let me in and let the others know it was me. Starfire came to greet me, she was fine too by the way, and invited me to stay for dinner. I heard a lot of cursing and few crashes before Jason came down the stairs. They were happy to see me, and I don’t get that a lot. It was a nice change. Then Dick came down too, quite literally. He could barely walk and would have tumbled down the stairs if Jason didn’t catch him. He couldn’t sit straight either.”

Batman clenched his jaw tightly.

“You should see his face when I told them why I was there,” Hal laughed.

The other Justice League looked at him in confusion and dawning realization.

“Roy and Kory jumped right in and started telling me what they were up to. Jason looked very damn proud of himself,” Hal wiped tears from his eyes, still laughing.

Batman glared at him murderously.

Hal looked around at their amused faces, his laughter slowly dying down. He met Bat’s gaze and winced.

“Anyone has ten bucks I can borrow?” Green Lantern asked.

“Why?” Batman gritted out.

“Because I said there was no way you would think your son was capable of whatever you are thinking right now and try to put a blame on him and Hood said 'ten bucks says otherwise' and well, here we are.”

Everyone turned to Batman with judgmental looks.

“And for the record,” Hal added, standing up. “Jason is taking very good care of Dick.”

“Wait!” Oliver trailed after him as Hal walked to the door. “Tell me more about Roy.”


End file.
